A Wedding
by Schadenfreudessa
Summary: Steve was late. Fair warning people - you won't like how this ends.


Thor wraps his arms around Steve, the soldier lying sleepily next to him. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, but entirely worth it. All the Avengers, all his friends from Asgard and Midgard would be at the wedding, and Thor was already smiling and tearing up at the thought of standing at the altar with Steve. He leaned forward, kissing Steve lightly on the lips, reveling in the breath that washed over his face. He was too excited to sleep, so he just lay there, enjoying the warmth of Steve at his side.

~0~0~0~

Thor was definitely uncomfortable, fidgeting around in the tuxedo Pepper had picked out for him. He was already at the altar, Bruce and Clint at his side. Sif and the Warriors Three were sitting in the front row, smiling encouragingly. He fidgeted more, pulling at the unfamiliar collar, and Bruce flicked lightly at his shoulder, a warning to stop and calm down. Thor returned the smile, and then watched the door again, waiting.

~0~0~0~

Steve was late. By an hour.

~0~0~0~

Two hours.

~0~0~0~

Three.

~0~0~0~

The guests had already left, and the Avengers gathered, something definitely amiss. Tony was Steve's best man, and he was also missing, and that was not good, very not good.

Clint and Natasha were scouring the hotel suites where they had all stayed the night, and Bruce was comforting Thor as he could. Sif and his friends had offered their assistance, sent along to search the city. Thor had changed out of his tux, and was calling Steve's phone, Tony's phone, and both their communicators. They weren't answering. Even JARVIS couldn't locate them.

Then Bruce got a call, from Clint, to get up to the hotel now, NOW, and they were running, flying up the stairs to the hotel room that had been designated Steve's dressing room. It was empty but for Clint and Natasha. But Natasha was bent over the corner of the room, turning and standing as Thor burst in, Bruce not far behind. When she looked up at Thor, it was with sadness in her eyes, and Steve's gold ring in her hand, the metal stained red with blood.

SHIELD was on full alert. With two missing Avengers, one presumed injured, they had all their agents and resources pouring into the city, tearing it apart for anything. Thor wanted to help, but they were afraid he was too desperate, too upset and that he would snap and destroy something, hurt someone. So he was left in the Mansion, with a promise that if anything turned up, he would be first to know.

So he was alone when they showed up.

~0~0~0~

Thor was curled up on the couch, one of Steve's blankets wrapped tightly around him, a box of poptarts at his side and some stupid TV movie playing. He had been crying earlier, but the tears had dried up some time ago. He was clutching tightly to Steve's ring, had carefully wiped the blood away, and now he just held it in his hand, running his thumb along the smooth golden band.

It was sudden, their appearance. One moment he was watching a poorly acted librarian flirting with some biker bad boy, and then they were standing in front of him. Well two were standing, the third lay sprawled along the floor.

It was Steve. He wasn't moving.

Thor fell to his knees at Steve's side, shaking his shoulders, calling out nonsense words and pained cries, but Steve was cold, pale, and the deep stab wound above his heart wasn't bleeding anymore. Thor cried, leaning down to place a kiss on those lips, but this time, there was no breath to revel in, no Steve to enjoy. He was dead.

Thor looked up after his tears ended, chest tight and painful and hurting so much, so much he couldn't breathe right. Tony stood in front of him, tux askew and ruined with blood, probably Steve's. He looked haggard and exhausted, tear marks streaked down his face and his eyes dark and red. He couldn't meet Thor's eyes, and his lips kept moving in what seemed to be 'sorry'. Thor wasn't sure who he was apologizing too.

Loki stood next to Tony, dressed in his favorite Midgardian suit, with the green scarf and the long jacket. He was dressed for a wedding, Thor's wedding, but he hadn't shown, why hadn't he shown? He had been invited, or course, but had never replied, never said he was going to show. But here he was, and he also wouldn't meet Thor's eyes.

Then Thor noticed the fourth figure, huddled and crouching behind Loki and Tony. Loki stepped to the side, and pushed the huddled figure forward. Thor would have been surprised if he wasn't so numb. It was Sif.

Her dress from the wedding was torn, shredded along the hem and bloodstained. She had her faced pressed into the floor, turned away from Thor, and he couldn't understand, couldn't comprehend what was going on. So he did what he always did, he turned to his brother.

Loki met his gaze now, and Thor could see the unshed tears glimmering there. He was actually upset for Thor, for Steve, for the almost-husband Thor had lost. He stepped around Sif, around Steve's body, and pulled Thor up, holding him, hugging him, and Thor began to cry anew, body shudder as his brother's long thin arms held tightly, comfortingly.

When Thor was numb again, finished crying, Loki stepped back, and they both looked down at Sif, who had pushed herself upright and back away from all of them.

"She was jealous, jealous of how your attention was always on the weak Midgardians, how you chose this realm over her, chose a Midgardian over her, a MAN over her."

Thor choked, not comprehending how someone he trusted, someone who was his friend, could possibly do this, ruin him so easily.

Tony walked around to them, and Thor let him place a comforting hand on his arm. He looked up at Thor, then down at Sif, and Tony's voice was laced with absolute /hate/ as he told Thor what happened.

He talked about how they had been getting ready, how excited Steve had been, when there was a knock at the door, and he had answered it to find Sif. She had asked for a moment with the groom, and Tony had been hesitant, had heard from Loki how she felt about Thor, but Steve had insisted, so Tony had stepped outside, but hadn't shut the door all the way. He had heard Steve's shocked and pained cry, had burst in to find Sif crouching over his body.

So Tony had called Loki immediately, letting Sif escape in favor of pressing his hands to Steve's wound, to try and stop the bleeding, and all it took was a quick shout of HELP when Loki answered for the God to show up in the room, to place his hands on Steve's chest and concentrate on knitting the wound back together.

But Sif's weapon was spelled, and the wound was beyond Loki's talents to heal, so they had taken Steve to a small group of professionals Loki knew of, and had waited anxiously for hours for word of Steve's health.

When they had heard the final verdict, that there was nothing they could do, there was nothing anyone could do, and Steve had slipped away. At that, Loki and Tony had left the healers to clean Steve's body, and they had gone out to find Sif.

After some searching, and a few well-deserved punches from Tony, they had brough Sif here, and now she was kneeling there, staring up at Thor like he was her friend. And she was, or had been. Sif was just kneeling there, Thor's friend, his sister-at-arms, and now Steve's murderer. He couldn't look at her anymore.

Thor knelt and lifted Steve's body. He would be given a proper send off, a proper burial and given the respect he deserved even in death. As he moved away, he met Loki's eyes, and nodded slightly. Loki knew what he meant.

Thor ignored Sif's cries as he walked away. Anything Loki did was better than she deserved.


End file.
